When it comes to OFC tournaments, there is a right way and a wrong way to run them. Unfortunately, it seems that the wrong way is becoming the standard and as an OFC lover, it makes me sick.

Poker tournament rules are designed to create a level playing field. Everyone starts with the same number of chips, everyone has the same amount of time per blind level, the button rotates so that everyone will have the same opportunity from every position, etc. These rules hold together the integrity of the game. It would be ludicrous if the blinds went up faster for some tables than others. But that’s exactly what’s happened with the standard OFC tournament.

In OFC, the number of players at the table is a multiplier of the “blind” level (there are no blinds in OFC, they’re just called levels). For example, if you foul at a heads-up table, it costs you at least 6 points, but with 3 players that foul costs you at least 12. You pay double for your mistakes and gain double for your big wins.

In a multi-table OFC tournament, if you have a table with 3 players and another table with only 2 players, those tables are actually using different structure levels because of the multiplier. It would be like having a Hold’em tournament where one table is at 100–200 blinds and the next table over is at 200–400 blinds. The integrity of the tournament is destroyed.

What makes it even worse is the new trend of putting 4 players at a table with the button sitting out. The “button sits out” rule is the worst thing that has ever happened to OFC tournaments. The rule says the person with the button sits out, thus allowing 4 players to sit at a 3-player game. However, if any player is in Fantasyland, the button does not rotate and the same player sits out again.

Imagine a scenario where there’s a streak of Fantasyland hands and you have to sit out several hands in a row, maybe even for an entire level. In Texas Hold’em, we call that a penalty. Sitting out means everyone else has more opportunities than you. It is a rule that purposefully un-levels the playing field, yet it is becoming a standard in OFC tournaments.

Why? Because the number of players in your tournament will not always be a multiple of 3. Let’s say we start a tournament with 6 tables and 18 total players. Once the first person busts out, you have a heads-up table that is actually playing for less risk. If you move those players into the 3-handed tables, you are still stuck with some tables playing 3-handed and some playing 4-handed. It’s a clusterfuck of irrationality and I hate it.

There is, of course, a simple solution to all of this mayhem: a Shootout. A Shootout is a multi-table tournament made up of single-table tournaments. Each table is its own entity. The winner of each table moves on to the next round:

Shootouts have their own drawbacks as well. For example, the number of players that start the tournament has to be a multiple of 3. Also, in shootouts it is inevitable that there will be “dead time” for some people who win their tables faster than others, but that is a small price to pay to ensure the integrity of the game.

At Open Face Live, we only run shootouts. Every player plays the same number of hands in every level. The tables are never unbalanced. No one ever sits out. And the dealer button always rotates. Level playing field for all: the way tournaments are meant to be.

Sand Farnia is a former tournament director, supervisor, and current poker dealer at Derby Lane Poker Room in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is also the creator of Open Face Live, a live broadcast of an OFC shootout. Watch live via Meerkat as the contestants play for the $2,000 top prize!

Open Face Live World Premiere – Sunday, April 12th at 6:00pm Eastern